Improvement in the construction of buildings



2 Sheets--Sheet l.

l. TALL. Construction of Buildings.

Patented MayV 6, i873.

2 Sheets--Sheei 2.

J. TALL. Construction of Buildings.

Patented May 6,1873.

"il A UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIGE.

JOSEPH TALL, OF SOUTHWARK, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 138,710, dated May 6,1873; application filed June 4, 1872.

' To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JosEPH TALLfof Lawson street, Great Dover Road, inthe borough of Southwark, England, engineer, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in the Construction of Walls, Houses, and otherBuildings, of which the following is a specification:

The object of this invention is toV enable laborers and unskilledartisans to construct buildings of greater strength in af more rapidmanner and at less cost than by the ordinary process of building withbricks or stone. To this end I employ molds, in which the materials tobe used in constructing the buildings are placed in layers, and theinterstices between such materials are filled up with a grouting orliquid mortar orconcrete composed of fine gravel or rough sand andPortland cement, or other cement which will harden or set in a fewhours, so that the materials in the mold will form one solid concretemass of sufficient hardness to allow of the molds being taken `topieces, leaving the walls standing. The molds are formed of frames,consisting of wooden panels of any convenient length and depth,connected at their ends' to Wrought-iron upright pieces, which may formthe angles of the wall or building.

The method of constructin g these molds will be understood by referenceto the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1, Sheet I, is anelevation of a mold complete and put together ready to construct a wallor one corner of a building. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.

The panelframes, which form the sides or faces of the wall, areconstructed of two strong horizontal wooden bars, a, a, which form thetop and bottom rails of the frame, shown in section at Fig. 3. Thesebars are grooved or rabbeted at their inner sides so as to receive therabbeted ends of the boards al a1. When these are driven in place thepanel is held together by the wrought-iron bars or straps b, Fig. 1, andthc angle-iron ends b b', and are still further strengthened andrendered rigid by the diagonal braces or struts a2 a2. The angle-ironsb'b are secured onto the ends of the frames by screw-bolts, and on theangleirons are riveted the eye-pieces c c, which are made with conicalholes to receive the conical screw pins or studs d1 .of the uprightpieces d, Figs. l and 2, and one of which is shown detached at Fig. 4.These uprights consist simply ofa sheet of wroughtiron of suitablewidth, strengthened or rendered rigid, as shown, by means of a woodenbar, d2. Conical screw pins or studs d1 are riveted, as shown at Fig. 4,at intervals, to the wrought-iron uprights. There is an upright of thiskind for each side of the frame and the two pieces are bolted togetherby screw-bolts c, which pass through the plate d and wooden bar d2, asshown at Fig. 4., the two parts being kept at a proper' distance apartby means of the short iron tubes el, all the parts being firmly boundtogether by screwing up the thumb-nut c2. When the pair of uprights areproperly placed on the concrete foundation the side panels a al areadapted thereto by placing theAeye-pieces c on the conical screw pins orstuds d1` and then screwing up the'nuts. The corners of the wall orbuilding are formed by an internal wroughtiron angle-piece, f, Fig. 2,in combination with the upright pieces d d and two wroughtiron panels, gg1. f The corner panel g is made of wrought-iron, and is precisely likethe uprights d, except that it is wider and only the same height as theframes a c1. It is provided with eye-pieces c c on each side to fit ontothe conical screw-studs d d1 of the adjoining pieces. The piece g1 isalso made of iron, strengthened by the upright g2, and on one sidethereis a piece of angle-iron riveted thereto to carry the conical screw-studd1, and at the other side a pair of eye-pieces are riveted. All thiswood and iron work is well painted; and before being used the internalsurface ofthe mold should be well payed over with soap and water toprevent the cement and concrete from adhering thereto.

The apparatus, as shown in the drawing, is intended to form walls nineinches thick; but if it bedesired to construct thicker walls longerscrew-bolts e must be used, andthe tubes e1 must be lengthened by addingon short pieces of tube' of the required length. The iron panels g g1 atthe corners must also be of greater width so as to iill up the vacantspace that will occur when the outer panels a are moved further awayfrom the inner panels so as to increase the thickness of the walls.

In order to admit of the panels being used in constructing various partsof the building it will sometimes be found convenient to alter the sidepanels, either by increasing or diminishing their length, so as to makethem fit various parts of a building. This is effected by the use ofpanels so constructed that pieces may be added onto one of their ends.The way in which this is effected is shown at Figs. 5 and 6, Sheet I.The panel A in Fig. l is an expanding panel of this kind. The top andbottom rails a a. of the expanding panel are bored out longitudinally toreceive a rod, i, which is made square at its inner end, and is providedwith holes atil il to receive crosspins j j, Fig. l, which are insertedintransverse holes made in the rails a a, as indicated by dots in Figs.1 and 5. The outer ends of the rods 'i fi are screwed to receive nuts i2i2, as shown in the gures. The rods i i are capable of being movedlongitudinally in or out of the rails, and are kept from turning roundin their holes by their square ends M1. A number of spare pieces ofpanel of various widths, as shown in elevation at Fig. 7 and in edgeview or section at Fig. 8, are always kept in stock, so that additionalpieces of any width may be added. The transverse holes shown by dots inthe rails or bars a a of the long panel are four and a half inches apartand the holes made in the square ends il il of the rods i v3 are one anda half inch apart, so that the rod may be xed by the pins j j at anydistance being a multiple of one and a half inch.

Supposingitbe desired to lengthen the panel A, Fig.41,to the extent ofeither of the pieces shown at Fig. 7, the rods z' c' are drawn out tothe desired extent and the end piece A* of the panel is detached fromthe part A and drawn off the rods c', and one of the pieces shown atFig. 7 is placed on the rods by passing the latter through the holes inthe bars or rails L of the additional piece, as shown by dots in Fig. 7.The additional piece is pushed close up to thepiece A, and then the endpiece A* is replaced on the rods, which are then screwed up again by thenuts i2, so as to bind or secure all the parts firmly together. If thepanel requires to be shortened the nuts e2 are removed and the end panelAit and the additional panel are taken off the rods c' i'. The endpanel, or, if desired, a shorter one, may then be replaced and the wholetightened up again by means of the nuts. rIhe panel will thereby beshortened to the extent of the extra panel which has been removed.

Having lexplainedy the construction of the mold or apparatus used forthe purpose of thel invention, I will now proceed to explain the mannerof using the same and of forming or constructing walls therewith. Asuitable level foundation having been formed in the ordinary manner, theseveral parts of thev mold or apparatus are set up and put together asshown at Figs. l and 2, Sheet I. A layer of concrete composed of brokenstone, gravel, or otherhard substance mixed with cement and water isthen spread over the bottom ofthe mold to the thickness of about threeinches, to form a bed for the second layer, which will consist of lumpsor blocks of rou ghuunhewn stone. These lumps are packed in as closetogether as they conveniently can be, leaving only room between them toreceive a liquid grouting composed of sand or fine gravel and cement.When the layer of packing has been laid in the liquid grouting is pouredin so as to ill all the interstices between the blocks of stone andproduce a moderately ne face to the wall when the panels a a are.

removed. This mode of forming the walls will be understood by referringto Figs. 9, 10, 11, and l2.

In order to form recesses oropenings in the walls to receive the ends ofthe joists cores made of sand, dust, or other friable substances areembedded in the walls while they are being built. To this end hollowiron boxes m m m, Figs. 9, 10, and 11, Sheet II, are employed. When thewall has been raised to the required height to receive the joists theboxes m m, which are rectangular and have neither top nor bottom, areplaced on the bed of concrete, which must be accurately leveled in themolds for the purpose, as shown in the longitudinal section, Fig. 9, andthe cross-section, Fig. 10. The wooden joists will be of variousdimensions according to the size of the intended building,

but, supposing the joists are nine inches deep, they should enter thewall four and a half inches. The boxes m should, therefore, in theirhorizontal section 'or plan, be four and a half inches long by threeinches wide, as shown in the plan view of the wall at Fig. l1. The boxesm m are placed against the inner panel a of the mold and at suitabledistances apart, according to the distance the joists are to be situatedapart. For the other ends of the joists it will be necessary that theboxes should be double the length in plan, so as to allow room for thejoists to be pushed back in the recesses in order to get the other endsin their places. These extra-lon g boxesm are shown in the plan view,Fig. 12. When all the boxes m are properly arranged in the molds theymust be filled nine and a quarter inches deep with sand or some otherfriable substance,which should be rammed down solid. The molds may thenbe lledwith the concrete up to or a little above the level of the sandin the boxes m. These latter may then be drawn up, leaving the sand corein the concrete. When the boxes have been removed the lilling of themolds may be completed and the wall carried up the required height. Uponremoving the panels a of the molds the sand cores may easily be pickedout, thereby leaving the necessary recesses' for the ends of the joists.

Having now described. my invention, and having explained the manner ofcarrying the V forth.

2. The adjustable panels, in combination with the metal rods i, providedwith holes il arranged to receive cross-pinsj, and constructed andarranged to admit of additional or short lengths of panel whennecessary, substantially as andV for the purpose set forth.

3. The iron boxes m, when used in combination with sand, dust, or otherfriable substance, capable of removal with acility from the Wall, forthe purpose of leaving recesses to receive the ends of thelooring-joists, substantially as described.

JOSEPH TALL.

Witnesses:

H. K. WHITE, G. N. MoRroN,

Both of 66 Chancery Lome, London.

